Sabres Leafs Brawl - Clarkson Leaves the Bench

How the hell is leaving the bench 10 games? 10 games is for serious infractions like stick to the head stuff.

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^7^ is just defending his sport sheeps.. as Alcibiades the exiled Athenian rationalizes in his speech to the enemy Spartans, he wants to take revenge on Athens because he loves it and can't stand to see the state it's in now - Triumph

I certainly dont condone PK using his stick as a weapon, but he clearly wanted nothing to do with Scott and was about to get mugged. Cant have goons going after star players without consequences. Unfortunately, suspending Scott and Kessel equally will hurt the Leafs a lot more than it will hurt the Sabres; Shanny needs to take that into account.

Which means it's encouraged by the coach and therefore management. Until this thinking goes away, we'll see this sort of stuff every year.

Fighting out of real animosity is fine and actually entertaining. It's the canned wrestling matches between Cam Jannsen and PL3 that are just boring. I take that time to go to the bathroom.

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Fighting out of real animosity is fine and actually entertaining. It's the canned wrestling matches between Cam Jannsen and PL3 that are just boring. I take that time to go to the bathroom.

+ 1. There needs to be a penalty of some sort for dirty play, and until the league gets better at enforcing its own rules in a way that makes sense, we're going to see real fights. That said, there's no reason for guys to do permanent damage to themselves by bare knuckle boxing for entertainment, or to justify their roster spots. If you can't play, you shouldn't be in the NHL. The league would be better off if guys like Clarkson and Salvador took care of the fighting.

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Sumus Legio
You don't turn this around in a couple shifts. Its going to take a little time, but I know the guys will come back. Because I can see it. -- Jacques Lemaire

Fighting out of real animosity is fine and actually entertaining. It's the canned wrestling matches between Cam Jannsen and PL3 that are just boring. I take that time to go to the bathroom.

This happens once in a blue moon. This brawl was apparently triggered when two guys fighting for NHL spots decided to fight. The Sabres didn't like how that fight went so they sent out their goon.

+ 1. There needs to be a penalty of some sort for dirty play, and until the league gets better at enforcing its own rules in a way that makes sense, we're going to see real fights. That said, there's no reason for guys to do permanent damage to themselves by bare knuckle boxing for entertainment, or to justify their roster spots. If you can't play, you shouldn't be in the NHL. The league would be better off if guys like Clarkson and Salvador took care of the fighting.

We hardly ever see real fights. Teams don't want players like Clarkson risking their necks in actual fights - the better Clarkson has gotten, the less he's been fighting. Until the NHL continues the charade of maintaining fighting despite it mostly being a sideshow, we'll see events like last night's.

Weird seeing Clarkson wearing # 71. Thought he was Rupp for a second. Stupid move on his part to come off the bench.

Kessel should definitely be suspended for his Racki-like stickwork there, but there is no way Scott should be going after him. Kessel is 1/2 his size and is not a fighter. I thought he did a good job fighting whoever that other Sabre was that was more his size.

Bernier beat the hell out of Miller. Always fun to watch a goalie fight for the reasons stated above.

to use your stick as a weapon is not only an extremely bitch move but its dangerous as well, so much for being a professional.. you shouldn't be talking sh!t or going back and forth with anyone if you're not going to be prepared to throw it down.

They instituted that suspension to get rid of the bench clearing brawls from hockey in '93 or '94 I believe.

and the NHL is worse off for it. Taking money out of its own pockets

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^7^ is just defending his sport sheeps.. as Alcibiades the exiled Athenian rationalizes in his speech to the enemy Spartans, he wants to take revenge on Athens because he loves it and can't stand to see the state it's in now - Triumph

I respect Clarkson's intention. However the rule is the rule and regardless of intention suspension was rightful. However (and I might get flamed for this) I think a 10 game suspension was a small price to play for protecting your fellow teammate. Face it if this was a year ago and it was Clarkson and Kovy instead of Clarkson and Kessel we would be all defending this and wishing for appeals. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve to be suspended but I act definately respect his motive for coming off the bench.

I respect Clarkson's intention. However the rule is the rule and regardless of intention suspension was rightful. However (and I might get flamed for this) I think a 10 game suspension was a small price to play for protecting your fellow teammate. Face it if this was a year ago and it was Clarkson and Kovy instead of Clarkson and Kessel we would be all defending this and wishing for appeals. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve to be suspended but I act definately respect his motive for coming off the bench.

It's a pretty black and white rule. I seriously doubt we'd all be praising him here just because he got suspended 10 games for us rather than the Leafs.

Until the NHL continues the charade of maintaining fighting despite it mostly being a sideshow, we'll see events like last night's.

Side show? Without even this watered down version of protection(instigator, helmet, visor, 3 fights in a game rules) the players would be running around and boarding the snot out of anyone that can play. The amount of high sticks would also be increased, as well as low bridge hits, and slew footing. Most NHL players would tell you it would become more dangerous without having these guys in the game. I agree that staged fights need to go, but there most certainly is a need for this element in the game. It's easy for people that gauge the game on possession numbers(not a knock) to overlook this aspect because they do not understand what occurs at ice level. It's a tough place that is kept in check by the boogie men. Everyone is scared of the boogeyman.

If he left the bench to protect a player like Elias I seriously doubt we'd be saying he should have been rightfully suspended. (Again even though the suspension was correct)

No, it's a black and white rule. All the players know this rule. Despite knowing the consequences of the rule, Clarkson chose to jump out onto the ice, making it a 6 vs. 5 line brawl. You don't think that's as cowardly as one of Kessel's slashes, somehow feeling that the 5 guys on the ice can't handle themselves so savior Wendell Clarkson needs to jump in and tip over their advantage by a man? It's asinine and idiotic.

Devils fans would absolutely be pissed off at Clarkson, regardless of the circumstances. It's not some subtle rule that players may not be aware of, they all know this rule and its consequences.